Spine Tingling Yooooogggggaaaaaaa-oooooooooooo! That’s as ghostly as it gets!

Third day of bringing yoga to the Maria Baldwin and the Graham and Parks schools in Cambridge. I love the ability to tie my classes into the curriculum, even of not something they are learning directly but my bringing into my classes mindfulness, movement, breathing, meditation, anatomy, science, coding, art, math and fun and tying it to kinesthetic learning, I feel I am creating the ultimate STEAM-yoga class going that is fully inclusive-all ages, all abilities, Eve’s STEAM Yoga…full steam ahead!

Mr. Thrifty is 33 ½ inches tall

I brought my Mr. Thrifty skeleton to be able to point out the spine, sit bones, skull, hands, feet. I explained that Mr. Thrifty had never been a real person, that he was made of plastic, but he gives us an authentic version of the inside framework of the human body.

Class started with me ringing the bell. I told everyone to take a moment to practice with their breath-sticks, a good way to settle everyone down. I led the first round of 5 count breathing and then one student did.

Two meditations today: Sa-Ta-Na-Ma followed by a mindfulness meditation, closing eyes, breathing, filling up and noticing and deflating. Cool air to warm air. The noticing of the body: stiff, tired, pain?…then noticing the feelings: happy, bored, nervous, peaceful?…then noticing the mind: busy, cloudy, clear, calm…

Anatomy talk:

Start by pointing out parts of Mr. Thrifty. Bones are the framework for your growing body. Need a strong frame (physically, emotionally, soulfully). Spine: 24 vertebra (sing.)/vertebrae (pl.). Between each one is a soft, cushy disc.

Cool Bone Facts: Choose to pepper your conversation with some of these cool facts.

The spine can move in 6 ways: forward and back, leaning side-to-side and twisting right and left.

You are born with 300 bones but some of them fuse over time and by adulthood, 206 bones.

There are 26 bones in the human foot

There are 54 bones in the wrist and hand

The femur, thigh bone, is the longest and strongest in the human body

The stapes, in the inner ear, is the smallest and lightest

The arm is mostly commonly broken by adults, the collar bone by kids.

Bones stop growing in length-21 years. Bone density and strength change throughout life

Only bone not connected to any other, Hyoid, a v-shaped bone at the base of the tongue/throat

Bones are made up of calcium, phospherus, sodium and other minerals as well as protein collagen

Bones function as the skeleton for the human body, allows for body arts to move and protects organs from impact (just like we wear a helmet to protect our skull and a seat belt in a car.) Also, produce red & white blood cells.

Sitting criss-cross yoga sauce. Feel the sit bones. Point out that these are the bottom of the pelvic girdle-rock side-to-side to feel them beneath you…below the padding of your bottom and leading them in the 6 spinal movements:

Forward and back = seated cat and cow; slow at first with a reminder to feel the spine moving; then fast to make the feeling more bright.

Leaning side-to-side

Simple Twist-lift the right arm high, hold the left knee. Lift the left arm high and place it behind you, close to the body and near where your tail would be resting (an idea here is to have everyone wear a paper tail)Breath in and lift tall, then twisting from the navel area, breathing out and twisting towards your back hand. Gently. Breath in and then on the breath out release.

Table top to ½ scorpion to pointer dog (long and strong) to full scorpion (right arm/left leg)-feel your spine twisting, pointer dog (long and strong one more time)to ½ scorpion to table top. Repeat left arm/right leg. Rest in child’s pose. Feel your belly pressing against your legs when you breath in and then as you breath out, your body soften, like it is a piece of clothe laying across a rock. Feel your spine taking the shape supported by your legs. Feel like you can make you back rest in the inside of an eggshell.

Downward facing Dog-spine feels long. Head is right between your arms and sit bones and pressing towards the crease where the wall and the ceiling meets behind you. Legs together. One leg up, wag it around. Bark like a dog. Switch legs. Then keeping both legs together behind you, doing uni-pod jumps-trying to kick yourself in the bottom. Bend knees. Look forward. Jump to your hands, Rise up…vertebra by vertebra, slowly slowly until all your vertebra have stacked up and you are standing tall.

Just in time for Yogini Went to Sea and then Happy Jio (both by Shakta Kaur Khalsa of Radiant Child Yoga “Happy” Cd.)

Melting down to the floor. Hugs knees into chest, feel your spine. Rock side to side. Release legs. Feet towards ceiling but not candle pose as I do not like to do this pose with so many kids as I cannot be sure they will act safely towards their necks. Point and flex feet. Ankle circles inward then outward. Hug knees in. Rock and roll 3x to come to a seated position.

Here we pratice what I call “Seated Tree (Janu Sirasana)” Start in Butterfly. Stretch right leg forward. Notice you are in tree pose here. Reach left arm high. Karate chop towards the pinky toe side of the foot or leg. 3x. Last one try to drape yourself over your leg. Fallen Tree. Repeat opposite side.

Lie on back. Easy lying twist.

Specific Spinal Facts:

4 Natural curves (see diagram)

Cervical Spine (neck) 8 vertebrae with 50 degrees rotation; thoracic spine (mid and upper back) 12vertabrae with 35 degrees of rotation; Lumbar spine (lower back) 5 vertebrae with 5 degrees of rotation, along with the Sacral spine which has the fused bones of the tail bone and move together with the lumbar spine with 5 degrees of rotation.

A little rhyme to remember number of vertebrae in each area of spine: Breakfast at 8, lunch at 12 and dinner at 5.

CALCIUM: Calcium for strong bones, exercise for strong bones, meditation/yoga/mindfulness for a strong mind. Good food for a healthy body.

Best sources of Calcium:

milk, cheese, yogurt, tofu

kale, broccoli, chard, spinach, bok choy, okra

Edamame, black eyed peas, white beans, almonds, sesame seeds

Figs, oranges, black strap molasses

Sardines!

Proprioception: Knowing where your body is in space (difficult for kids with sensory processing disorder-expand) Refer to the game show “Hole In The Wall” or your ability to walk through a door frame without banging into the sides. Think about the positive/negative space that your body creates in space. Have kids pass by each other without banging into each other.

More cool bone facts:

human and giraffes have the same number of bones in their necks

bones meet at joints; held in place at the joints by muscles and ligaments; cartilage covers the bones to protect against rubbing.

Fascia is sheets of connective tissue like a spiders web or a sweater inside your body that covers the whole inside, wrapping everything in one continuous sheet.* Helps connect every part of the body to the other.* Should be wavy and stretch without resistance* Trauma ( physical, emotional, scarring, inflammation)-the fascia becomes less pliable, tight,

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Always Be Dancing Expressive Movement: Yoga and Flamenco for Every/Body. I am committed to inclusion. I bring inclusion to school communities, fitness professionals, Pt's/OT's, yoga studios and every(body) in between through classes, workshops, professional development seminars, public speaking, and guest blogging. I can create a program specific to your needs.